Starbucks Coffee is Good Enough

I know that I speak for many millions of Europeans when I express the hope that Starbucks will never make any profit in Europe and leave us alone. We see its intrusion into the heart of our culture not as a contribution that enriches it, but as a crude expression of marketing prowess that can only impoverish numerous small café operators.

Oh gosh, I love reading letters to the editors (hint: write me letters!), and this letter to the New York Times in response to this article about Starbucks, could basically come from Brooklyn, or Portland, or some other place where the young and hip live and prefer to get their coffee from their local cafés.

But I don’t mind Starbucks so much! I think their coffee is fine. There is a Starbucks next to the Awl offices, and that is where I grab a coffee before I start my morning blogging. There is actually a Stumptown located x blocks from the office, but I am too lazy to walk there! Stumptown coffee is good, but — a bit pricey? At my old job, I was going to an office where there was free coffee brewing in a pot next to the refrigerator that no one used to store their homemade lunches, because everyone just ate out all the time (the refrigerator mostly contained free soda and beers for everyone because startups like to provide perks like that). And now I’m spending $50 a month on coffee! That’s $50 I wasn’t spending before, which means there will have to be changes. To be continued…